Calif. Woman, 62, Gives Birth to Baby Boy

This headline grabbed my attention on Yahoo! News. A 62-year-old woman in Calirornia had given birth to her 12th child. "She is also a grandmother of 20 and a great-grandmother of three" the news reports. Her 11th child is 3 1/2 years old. Both her youngest children were inpregnated through in vitro fertilization.

This is what I do not understand. Why would a woman in her 60's want to give birth again? If the female body was meant to continue bearing children past 50, she would have continued ovulating and not go through menopause right? I do understand that Janise Wulf may have wanted children with her 3rd husband. Now she has a 3 1/2-year-old son and a newborn son to take care of. I find it difficult keeping up with my children and I'm in my 30's!

The same piece of news also listed other women who had given birth in their 60's.

"The oldest woman on record to give birth is a 66-year-old Adriana Iliescu of Romania, who had a Caesarean section Jan. 15, 2005."

I do think it is very selfish in the part of the women who chose to go through artificial insemination to have these children. They are in their 60's. Unless they expect to live until they are in their 90's and work until then, how are they going to support these children? OK, perhaps they are filthy rich. How are these women going to provide the kind of emotional support their children need? Gosh, their moms are older than some of their friends' grandparents!